Wolves of Darkness, The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Two (Short Stories) [Hardcover]

Jack Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Short Stories | Publication Date: November 5, 1999

This second volume continues the publishing program to collect the stories of Science Fiction Grand Master Jack Williamson.

Drawn from such classic pulp magazines as Astounding Stories, Wonder Stories, and Amazing Stories, this volume features ten tales, four never published in book form, including novel-length adventure, The Stone from the Green Star. Also included are Williamson's letters and contest entries to the editors of the SF magainzes of the early 30's.

The book is smythe-sewn, bound in full cloth, and printed on acid-neutral paper, with full-color endpapers reproducing the original pulp magazine cover art.

With a foreword by noted writer Harlan Ellison, Wolves of Darkness imparts the sense of wonder from the early years of American Science Fiction and continues the documentation of Williamson's unparalleled career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Williamson was one of the gods of the old pulp sf/adventure magazines of yesteryear such as Weird Tales, Astounding Stories, Thrilling Mystery, etc., and at age 93 is still writing as well as teaching. The dozen stories included in this fourth volume of his collected works range in publication from 1936 to 1938. In addition to the title piece, there are "The Ice Entity," "The Devil in Steel," "Dreadful Sleep," and "The Legion of Time." This also sports an introduction and afterword by Williamson and an appendix. The series includes Vol. 1: The Metal Man and Others (ISBN 1-893887-02-2), Vol. 2: Wolves of Darkness (ISBN 1-893887-04-9), and Vol. 3: Wizard's Isle (ISBN 1-893887-08-1). Vintage sf at its best.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Jack Williamson has been in the forefront of science fiction since his first published story in 1928. Now in his eighth decade as a published author, Williamson is the acclaimed author of such trailblazing classics as The Humanoids and The Legion of Time. The Oxford English Dictionary credits Williamson with inventing the terms "genetic engineering" (in Dragon's Island) and "terraforming" (in Seetee Ship). His seminal novel Darker Than You Think was a landmark speculation on the nature of shape-changing.

Williamson has also been active academically. He has taught since the 1950's and is professor emeritus at Eastern New Mexico University. He lives and works in Portales, New Mexico.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 529 pages
• Publisher: Haffner Pr; 1st edition (November 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893887049
• ISBN-13: 978-1893887046
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,808,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tales from the Golden Age of pulps!, June 4, 2001

By 

Bill W. Dalton (Santa Ana, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolves of Darkness, The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Two (Short Stories) (Hardcover)

Jack Williamson has the skill to capture one's interest right from the first sentence of a story and hold it, drawing one in to read on and discover the mystery and wonder that follow. He has a very visual style and in the title story Wolves of Darkness he provides a scientific explanation for lycanthropy instead of the usual supernatural rationale. He also describes a process that sounds very similar to the way that micro-processors are made today! And this was in 1932, some 20 years before even the transistor was developed, let alone micro-chips! When this story was written even the vacuum tube was still a rather new thing.

Williamson writes in the pulp fiction style of the day, which is somewhat repetitive and tiresome at times, but since the going rate for a pulp magazine story back then was a half cent a word or less, it's understandable why an author would "flesh out" a tale as much as possible! Even so, these stories still hold up well.

This is a handsome volume, well-made, with colorful reproductions on the endpapers of the covers of the old pulp magazines in which the stories originally appeared. This book is a must-have for all Jack Williamson fans and all science-fiction/horror fans in general!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wolves among us and other great tales!, May 30, 2001

By 

Bill W. Dalton (Santa Ana, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolves of Darkness, The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Two (Short Stories) (Hardcover)

This is a handsome book, well-made, with colorful reproductions on the endpapers of the covers of the old pulp magazines in which the stories originally appeared. Some of these grand old pulps can still be found on auction sites and in second-hand book stores, and they're worth collecting, not only for the stories but also for the wonderful illustrations. The quality of this book and the early Jack Williamson tales make this volume worth its rather high price.

I wanted particularly to read the short novelette Wolves of Darkness, because I'd heard it was the precursor werewolf tale to his later classic Darker Than You Think, and I was not disappointed! Williamson has the skill to capture one's interest right from the first sentence of a story and hold it, drawing one in to read on and discover the mystery and wonder that follow. This book is a must-have for all Jack Williamson fans and all science-fiction/horror fans in general!